T

he weeklong brutality that is Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW) came to town last week. Yours truly, mere days after a bruising 10-day sojourn to Milan and Frankfurt, threw herself into the annual fete with much glee and abandon.

Sustainability was the recurring theme at this year'€™s JFW. Not just how to sustain my legs in heels throughout the week when my jetlagged body didn'€™t know if it was hungry or sleepy, but sustainability in fashion more broadly.

The conversation about fashion business sustainability was initiated through the the British Council that brought in Guardian journalist Lucy Siegle '€” the driving force behind the To Die For book and the True Cost documentary film, the latter of which was screened after the public discussion.

As the discussion unfurled, a gap was immediately formed. While the London-based panelists were hammering on the end-to-end impact of fast and cheap fashion, from exhausted resources to excesses of barely-used clothing filling up landfills, the Indonesian panelists and audience were fixated primarily on eco-friendly production materials.

From the feedback I received after writing about the very same issue here in May, I could comprehend how the supply-chain problems of sweatshop practices didn'€™t register strongly for the Indonesian audience. Indonesia direly needs to resuscitate its garment industry after years of losing out to Bangladesh and Vietnam and the demand-side problem of discarded new clothing appeared incomprehensible to large swathes of the audience.

Thanks to a widening income gap in Indonesia, the audience assumed that there'€™d always be someone glad to accept hand-me-downs. Furthermore, the demands of a rising Indonesian middle class will noisily protest of being undemocratically denied their '€œaffordable'€ fashion choices from Zara, Topshop, Uniqlo or H&M.

But in truth, deeper conversations on the subject need to continue. JFW'€™s organizer concurrently runs the prestigious design competition, Fashion Designers Contest (LPM), and the mentoring program Indonesia Fashion Forward (IFF), where promising new talents are encouraged and nurtured. JFW should use LPM and IFF to cement and spearhead the issue of sustainability, lest the theme of sustainable fashion be all but forgotten by next year'€™s JFW.

Aside from a good show put by Merdi Sihombing, Friederich Herman and Etu to prove that eco-conscious fashion could look just as stylish, a truly marvelous collection that also somehow resonated with the issue of the week came from Rahul Mishra, the winner of the 2015 International Woolmark Prize. Rahul'€™s collection married off time-tested Indian artisanal embroidery and sewing techniques with Australian merino wool. The shearing of the wool is a natural process that doesn'€™t harm the lambs and occurs perpetually for a steady supply. The Indian artisanal embroidery process is time-tested and it'€™s also time-intensive as it surrenders the process pretty much to the artisan'€™s handiwork. Fast-fashion it does not make and for the exquisite, ready-to-wear clothing it produces, I genuinely wonder why fast-fashion is what anybody should make.

Still on the subject of business sustainability, another aspect that'€™s been brewing in my mind is about JFW itself. Now in its eighth year, JFW is getting larger by the year. JFW encourages the dream of bringing Indonesian fashion to the global stage and that dream is noble and worth fighting for round-the-clock. I say round-the-clock because it entails not just months-long preparation for the annual JFW, but also year-round work to coach new designers and coax serious foreign buyers to attend and place orders at JFW'€™s buyers'€™ room.

Founded by one of Indonesia'€™s largest media groups, JFW is mostly run by the employees of said media group '€” people who, to their hard-earned credit, have become a pretty good crew in managing a bustling fashion week through the years. However, as JFW gets more expansive by the year, such a vast and substantial undertaking, involving designers, buyers and sponsors, requires more focused and dedicated teams.

Perhaps, for its own ultimate sustainability, JFW needs its own enterprise funding and supporting it; an enterprise that, by its independent design, in time will also comprise more varied stakeholders from the domestic fashion scene, making JFW a truly rounded vehicle for the Indonesian fashion industry. I believe the well-meaning, hardworking people behind JFW would acknowledge this and will hopefully soon walk the path toward it. PT Jakarta Fashion Week should be a '€œwhen'€, not an '€œif'€.

Now, about the fashion itself'€¦who were the stars?

Strong concept, solid presentation: Etu, Sofie, Danjyo Hiyoji, Lulu Lutfi Labibi, Billy Tjong, Peggy Hartanto, Rinaldy A. Yunardi, MajorMinor'€™s capsule collection with artist Eko Nugroho, Bateeq'€™s capsule collection with Suzuki Takayuki

Delightful collection: Didi Budiardjo, Obin, Itang Yunasz, F. Budi, Toton, Iwan Amir

Promising works: Rama Dauhan, Sean & Sheila, So'€™e, Manda Talitha.

Until the next fashion week, daahlink!